Sustainable cities and communities
Urbanisation is closely linked to economic growth and it is a fact that the global population is migrating to cities. The rapid increase in the size and population density in cities places strain on the complex social, economic and environmental ecosystem that maintain the viability of a city as a desirable place to live and work.
Factors such as sustainability (in all its dimensions), environmental management, transportation operations and infrastructure, buildings and civil engineering, social responsibility, safety, health and wellbeing including occupational health and resource management (energy, water etc.) are all vital features of modern cities, and information technology is vital for effective integration of the management systems. However, technological development nearly always has unwanted consequences, and noise is often significant amongst them. Examples are easy to identify: Road traffic noise is the single most prevalent source of noise related health effects. Renewable energy sources, especially wind turbines but also heat pumps result in long-running contention over noise issues. Noise is the second most significant environmental pollution concern after air quality. Noise-induced hearing loss from workplace noise exposure remains one of the most significant occupational health issues.
It is clear that addressing the multitude of noise-related issues already relies heavily of noise measurement and hearing assessment capabilities supported by IEC TC 29. It is also clear that noise measurement could be used more pervasively in many future city applications. Permanent and widely distributed monitoring can benefit; transportation system management, improve the environmental quality inside buildings, provide individualised noise exposure assessment, improve studies correlating noise and health and be part of an integrated smart system for environmental management. Indeed, possibilities are seemingly endless. However, noise measurement instrumentation (and practices) need to evolve from the type of systems currently considered in IEC TC 29 publications.